Today's Automation News Headlines from Automation.com

August 17, 2011 - Softing announces its Easy-Connect-Suite, designed to enhance OPC DA, OPC AE, and XML DA-based applications. This intelligent set of OPC middleware products simplifies the commissioning and operation of OPC clients and servers, significantly improves the data throughput of OPC interfaces, and ensures reliable OPC communication links.

The Easy Connect Suite includes the following middleware products:

• OPC Tunnel - DCOM-Bypass for a safe, yet secure method of network-spanning OPC communication
• OPC Bridge - "OPC Gateway" between any Data Access or XML-DA implementations 
• OPC Optimizer -  Optimizes access of many OPC clients to one single OPC server
• OPC Concentrator - Concentrates several OPC sources into a single Server 
• OPC Filter - Prevents unauthorized access to OPC items
• OPC Storage - Intelligent data storage for OPC client <-> OPC client communication
• OPC to Database – Store data directly into a database
• OPC to File – Store data in a file on your hard drive

The Easy Connect Suite combines the following benefits:

• Ensures fast, reliable data connections
• Easy remote access to your system over the Internet
• Enables OPC communication across firewall boundaries
• Reduces CPU-load
• Improves security on a system level by preventing unauthorized data access
• Simplifies data management

Softing, a member of the European Steering Committee of the OPC Foundation and author of the OPC Book, actively contributes to the success of OPC by providing high quality OPC products, enabling their customers to stay in the forefront of the industrial communications technologies they deploy.

About Softing
In industrial automation, Softing is a specialist for fieldbus technology and has established itself as a world-leading partner for networking automation systems and control solutions. Softing provides customers the key technology to connect devices, controls, and systems with the leading communication technologies. In fieldbus technology, Softing is a world-class expert for FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS, and CAN/CANopen/DeviceNet. The company’s wide range of expertise includes solutions for OPC, FDT, and Real-Time-Ethernet protocols such as, PROFINET IO, EtherNet/IP, and Modbus/TCP. Many of the products and services developed by Softing since the company was founded in 1979 have become reference standards throughout the world. In addition, Softing has established itself as a provider of sophisticated diagnostic tools for fieldbus systems.